Short Wins – Slow News Day Edition

Only one win last week – on a technical issue of what counts as a crime of violence, statutory rape, and sentencing law.

Pity.

To the victory!

1. United States v. Rangel-Castaneda, Fourth Circuit: The district court incorrectly classified appellant’s Tennessee statutory rape conviction as a generic “statutory rape” offense and, by extension, a “crime of violence” under the sentencing guidelines enhancement in § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii). This is because Tennessee’s provision is significantly broader than the generic offense: in Tennessee, the age of consent is 18, while the “generic, contemporary meaning” of statutory rape sets it at 16. For these reasons, the case was remanded for resentencing.